dyslexia and getting extra help at school

spaine

Hi,

My dd is 8 and was tested for dyslexia at school at 7 and was found to have some dyslexic tendancies.

We were told she would get some extra help as part of a GEP - Group Education Plan.

End of year report shows shes below avg and shes now at an age where she understands and its suitably upset about it.

Her literacy teacher was changed mid-yr and when we went to parents evening, her teacher didn't seem to know and they other yr teacher pointed out to him that she has dyslexic tendancies .. Understandably I wasn't happy about that !

Wondering if we should have got her officially diagnosed .. I know it can cost a few hundred pounds .. but does the school take more notice ? and provide more help ?

Should we be considering a tutor ? Kumon ? or something similar.

Any advise welcome

Mojisola

It's so disheartening to see that young dyslexics are still having problems at school. How many years have to go by until the extra help needed is automatically given?

My son found the local classes run by the national dyslexic organisation very helpful. Although it meant going to "classes" on Saturday morning, he got so much out of them that he didn't mind. He said that he learnt more in those two hours than he did all week at school.

We had him tested privately and found it very useful - it showed us quite specifically where he was having problems and also where he was doing well. It enabled us to help him at home and gave us the confidence to push the school harder. They found it more difficult to fob us off when we had a very clear measure of the problems he was having.

Be prepared to fight, fight and fight the school. If necessary, take it to the governing body. I'm sure you will find that the school prospectus will say something like - every child is important and his/her individual needs are taken seriously. Hold them to their find words!

travelgran

I suggest you look on the web and find some information on the SEN Code of Practice which will help when discussing your daughter's progress with the school."Dyslexic tendencies" and a GEP suggest to me that she is in the very early stages of identification and intervention. Did she get the extra help with the GEP and did she meet her targets? If not she should be moving towards an Individual Plan with targets just for her though the programme may be delivered as part of a small group. Check what is happening with the Senco and ask how information is spread to other teachers in the school.
I wouldn't go straight down the private route yet. Give her help over the holidays with some fun/game type activities. A lot of ideas for these are on the web. Keep reading to her not just listening to her read. Next term find out at the beginning of term what her programme is. If she is on an IEP you should be invited to reviews. You can also find out about LEA SEN support services in your area. These do vary across the country but many have specialist dyslexia teachers to advise and support the schools.
Information is also available from the various dyslexia associations and some have local meetings.
The more preparation you do beforehand the more fruitful your discussions with school staff are likely to be!

Rainey_LB

When you go back to the school in September I imagine you'll have a new class teacher for the year, make an appointment to go in and see them, ask them how they are going to help her with her difficulties as you are concerned about her progress and that her self esteem has had a little knock by the report, also what you can do to help her and support her at home.

She should have an IEP (Individual Education Plan), which are usually developed with the class teacher and SENCO, these have achievable targets which the child is working towards, with a plan of how the child will achieve them. It will be laid out in a table with heading similar to below.

Area of Concern
eg. spelling

Target
eg. will be able to spell 8 new HFW words

Action/Strategy/Resources Support
eg, Rolling programme of 1 new HFW each week

When/Where/Whom/How Often
eg. 5x 1:1 sessions with a TA per week

Success Criteria
eg. Will get at least 7/8 correct when asked in weekly test

You the child and the teacher will need to agree the targets and they should be reviewed regularly - 6-8 weeks normally. They normally like to work in small achievable steps, which can be built on. I think it is something you need to keep on top of with the teacher and if you feel the support she is getting is inadequate arrange an appointment with the schools SENCO and then if your still not happy the head.

When I first became concerned with my sons progress and didn't feel I was getting very far with the school I made an appointment with a local Kip McGrath tuition centre who do free no obligation assessments when you enquire about classes, so I was able to go into school and say well I know his reading level is this far behind, his spelling is here, his comprehension is ........ luckily school have been great this year and he has caught up loads, not too far behind now.

As far as her being upset about it, I think you should make sure you point out what she is good at, I always praise my sons strengths and let him know we can't all be good at everything as long as you work hard and try your best thats what counts. If her self esteem gets too knocked she'll start believe she can't do it and then you've got a whole other mountain to climb!!

Also do lots of reading and make up stories etc, write them together, get her to help with the shopping list etc, anything you can think of either making it fun or without her realising that she is practicing her reading, ie I need to find Albert Road on this map....I can't see it can you help me etc...whatever works for you.

Children often slip down over the 6 week break if they haven't done any reading spelling etc.

I know how hard it is, good luck.

Mojisola

Rainey_LB wrote: »

As far as her being upset about it, I think you should make sure you point out what she is good at, I always praise my sons strengths and let him know we can't all be good at everything as long as you work hard and try your best thats what counts. If her self esteem gets too knocked she'll start believe she can't do it and then you've got a whole other mountain to climb!!

Also do lots of reading and make up stories etc, write them together, get her to help with the shopping list etc, anything you can think of either making it fun or without her realising that she is practicing her reading, ie I need to find Albert Road on this map....I can't see it can you help me etc...whatever works for you.

Children often slip down over the 6 week break if they haven't done any reading spelling etc.

This is good advice. I always took the line with my son that dyslexics aren't good at reading because their brains are "wired" differently. It didn't matter much if you were dyslexic before our society became so reliant on the written word and computers but now they stand out.

Dyslexics are usually better at other things than their peer group. My son has very good spacial awareness and can visualise things in 3D easily. His memory for the spoken word is very good. Find what your daughter is good at and keep her aware of it. Encourage her in areas where she can use these skills.

Ricekirsty

Dyslexia is not a disability as such even thought you get treated as such(my opinion). It is a different way of thinking and doing things. I am dyslexic and at school I was put in classes with the glue sniffers and the kids who ate the pens. I remember being patronised and treated like I was stupid. I began to believe and stopped trying. I left with no real qualifications. To cut a long story short I now have an M.Sc. and get paid fairly well, alot more than most teachers. Incidental one of the kids in my class became a millionaire(no not drugs) and an other runs a very successfully plumbing company. Teachers excel in this environment so are really biased. My sister is a teacher and I am much smarter that her in ANY everyday activity. She is always asking me for help.

Your kid is NOT below average. She is doing things differently. Encourage her to learn her own way. Everyone has different ways to learn. Your daughter can do almost anything she wants. Its your job to encourage and excite her. I like being dyslexic, yeah forms are a pain, but I think outside the box all the time. Also my experience has taught me not to always do as I am told. When you are an adult you can stand up for yourself. You need to stand up for your kids. Perhaps get the support of dyslexic organisations and local people in a similar situation. You are not alone. Above all it is not an excuse for them to sideline your child! History is full of dyslexic people who excelled in a system that attempts to disable them.

Maybe read The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Brighest People Can't Read and How They Can Learn by Ronald D. Davis and Eldon M. Braun


In case I am not clear the MOST important thing here is YOUR KID IS NOT STUPID. Its REALLY IMPORTANT YOU BELIEVE this and don't let teachers ruin her CONFIDENCE. In life CONFIDENCE gets you a very long way. Its important that she enjoys learning.


Remember Dyslexics are teople poo!

Rainey_LB

Ricekirsty wrote: »

Dyslexia is not a disability as such even thought you get treated as such(my opinion). It is a different way of thinking and doing things. I am dyslexic and at school I was put in classes with the glue sniffers and the kids who ate the pens. I remember being patronised and treated like I was stupid. I began to believe and stopped trying. I left with no real qualifications. To cut a long story short I now have an M.Sc. and get paid fairly well.

Your kid is NOT below average. She is doing things differently. Encourage her to learn her own way. Everyone has different ways to learn. Your daughter can do almost anything she wants. Its your job to encourage and excite her. I like being dyslexic, yeah forms are a pain, but I think outside the box all the time. Also my experience has taught me not to always do as I am told. When you are an adult you can stand up for yourself. You need to stand up for your kids. Perhaps get the support of dyslexic organisations and local people in a similar situation. You are not alone. Above all it is not an excuse for them to sideline your child! History is full of dyslexic people who excelled in a system that attempts to disable them.

Maybe read The Gift of Dyslexia: Why Some of the Brighest People Can't Read and How They Can Learn by Ronald D. Davis and Eldon M. Braun


In case I am not clear the MOST important thing here is YOUR KID IS NOT STUPID. Its REALLY IMPORTANT YOU BELIEVE this and don't let teachers ruin her CONFIDENCE. In life CONFIDENCE gets you a very long way. Its important that she enjoys learning.


Remember Dyslexics are teople poo!

Your right, it doesn't have to be a disability, and I think you'll find schools have moved on a lot since your experiences, thankfully. This is exactly why they have IEP's (Individual Education Plans) as they recognise the child needs extra help and a different approach.

Your are also so right when you say they are not stupid and nobody should be made to feel like this, my son may not be the best in his class at reading & spelling, but his construction skills are fantastic, at his last review his teacher couldn't praise him enough and told him he could be a future engineer in the making - this gave him a huge boost!!

My son is not sidelined or separated from his peers, his IEP helps him to remain inclusive. He just has extra help in a way that works for him, he is colour blind and has tracking problems with his eyes too. He gets extra help at registration or other times when its suitable for to leave the rest of the class and won't miss out.

I understand what you are saying about not being behind but doing things differently, the trouble is children do pick up on what their peers are achieving and do measure themselves against it. You don't need to tell them they are behind as such, but I think you do need to have these discussions with school to make sure they right support is in place.

spaine

Thankyou everyone for your kinds words and suggestions.

DD is very intelligent, caring, helpful, sensitive and kind.

I will support her every step of the way .. its just knowing which way to go !!

I'm trying to find the best way to support her and knowing how to get the best out of the school as they are not very informative !

My goal is to get as much information as possible over the summer break to go back and make more of a fuss.

Her next teacher is a new one, straight out of teacher training .. I hope she does her best for dd.

We've joined the local library summer reading challenge. I've got some workbooks for literacy and maths that we can do together.

She writes all the time, but she gets dishartened if I correct her spellings. I know what she wants to say but its phonetically written.

Still wondering if something like Kumon would work with her as its worksheets you do daily out of school.

notakid

I'm sure I've read that Kumon is not good for dyslexics. I wouldn't go down that route.

Contact your local dyslexia association, you can get a list from the British Dyslexia Association and ask if they hold a list of dyslexic trained tutors.

The local association should send you the info free of charge.

A good dyslexic teacher doesn't really "teach" the subject but shows the child different ways to remember important information.

There is a good series of books on Amazon called beat dyslexia. they tend to be the sheets you fill in everyday.

galvanizersbaby

Rainey_LB wrote: »

When you go back to the school in September I imagine you'll have a new class teacher for the year, make an appointment to go in and see them, ask them how they are going to help her with her difficulties as you are concerned about her progress and that her self esteem has had a little knock by the report, also what you can do to help her and support her at home.

She should have an IEP (Individual Education Plan), which are usually developed with the class teacher and SENCO, these have achievable targets which the child is working towards, with a plan of how the child will achieve them. It will be laid out in a table with heading similar to below.

Area of Concern
eg. spelling

Target
eg. will be able to spell 8 new HFW words

Action/Strategy/Resources Support
eg, Rolling programme of 1 new HFW each week

When/Where/Whom/How Often
eg. 5x 1:1 sessions with a TA per week

Success Criteria
eg. Will get at least 7/8 correct when asked in weekly test

You the child and the teacher will need to agree the targets and they should be reviewed regularly - 6-8 weeks normally. They normally like to work in small achievable steps, which can be built on. I think it is something you need to keep on top of with the teacher and if you feel the support she is getting is inadequate arrange an appointment with the schools SENCO and then if your still not happy the head.

When I first became concerned with my sons progress and didn't feel I was getting very far with the school I made an appointment with a local Kip McGrath tuition centre who do free no obligation assessments when you enquire about classes, so I was able to go into school and say well I know his reading level is this far behind, his spelling is here, his comprehension is ........ luckily school have been great this year and he has caught up loads, not too far behind now.

As far as her being upset about it, I think you should make sure you point out what she is good at, I always praise my sons strengths and let him know we can't all be good at everything as long as you work hard and try your best thats what counts. If her self esteem gets too knocked she'll start believe she can't do it and then you've got a whole other mountain to climb!!

Also do lots of reading and make up stories etc, write them together, get her to help with the shopping list etc, anything you can think of either making it fun or without her realising that she is practicing her reading, ie I need to find Albert Road on this map....I can't see it can you help me etc...whatever works for you.

Children often slip down over the 6 week break if they haven't done any reading spelling etc.

I know how hard it is, good luck.

Rainey - did your son go on to attend Kip McGrath classes? - just wondered as have been looking in to these for my 7 year old DS (just completed Year 2) recently.
He has not been diagnosed dyslexic but I have suspicions and though we do work closely with the school I am wondering if Kip McGrath would help him and build his confidence with literacy?
It is quite expensive so wondered if you had personal experience?

Sorry - OP for hijacking your thread!

Rainey_LB

galvanizersbaby wrote: »

Rainey - did your son go on to attend Kip McGrath classes? - just wondered as have been looking in to these for my 7 year old DS (just completed Year 2) recently.
He has not been diagnosed dyslexic but I have suspicions and though we do work closely with the school I am wondering if Kip McGrath would help him and build his confidence with literacy?
It is quite expensive so wondered if you had personal experience?

Sorry - OP for hijacking your thread!

We did end up signing up for the Kip McGrath classes for a few months & I have to say they were excellent, I just couldn't afford to continue & extra help had been put in place at school.

They did help my DS's confidence & he enjoyed them, and had a different approach to school with different ideas. The woman who runs our local one had worked as primary school teacher, then specialised as a SENCO so really knew her stuff. If I could afford it I would send him again.

I did look at Kumon and would agree with the previous post about it not being that great for dyslexics, its all very repetitive and could see my DS would have got quite frustrated with it.

notakid - is right, dyslexic's need to find a different approach that works for them, but this is not the same thing for all dyslexics.

spaine - don't worry about the spellings if it upsets her, at this age in school they are taught to spell phonetically, as long as you can understand what she is trying to say, praise her for trying, its better that she keeps practicing and likes doing it, than thinks its not worth bothering because she keeps getting it wrong. There really is no point in just correcting them as she is unlikely to remember the correct spelling without further practice, so all she will be taking away from the correction is that 'she got it wrong'.

Make sure she know's all her phonics combinations properly eg. ew, ar, ie, etc, ELC.co.uk do the Jollyphonics DVD which has a section of how to say the sounds correctly (they have changed since I was at school, m is now 'em' not 'mmm', n 'en' not 'nnn' IYSWIM) it is quite expensive £20 but you might be able to get it cheaper on amazon or ebay. I will warn you the story about inky mouse is quite boring & probably a bit young for her but the how to say the sounds correctly is good.

If it is High Frequency Words that are being spelt wrong over & over, work on this at a different time, print out 5 words in different colours and stick them on the wall by her bed, when you tuck her in at night practice them for a few minutes each night, after a few days try covering one and see if she can remember how it is spelt, but make a game out it.

We also have magnetic words, we got them from a book catalogue which came home from school, I bought a couple of sets and they are stuck on the radiator, we make up silly sentances with them, these are a quite a good way to encourage reading and comprehension.

I would really recommend making an appoint with the teacher & SENCO in the first few weeks back in September, but don't go in all guns blazing at first, explain your concerns, what you would like to happen & that you want to work with the school to help her. If this doesn't work then get the guns out!! lol